


Blue Cupcakes

by Amurtinyburr12



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Architect Annabeth, F/M, Percy Being an Idiot, Percy is a Dork, Sick!Percy, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, discontinued
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-05
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-03-10 13:42:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3292460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amurtinyburr12/pseuds/Amurtinyburr12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy Jackson's never been all that interested in having a relationship with someone other than his mom and friends. But an actual relationship with someone? That had never even been on his list of things to do until the day he was asked by his mom to get some cupcakes from Bake & Cake and he met The One.</p><p>Annabeth Chase has never been all that interested in having a relationship with someone other than her studies. But an actual relationship with someone? That had never even been on her list of things to do until the day she was called by her boss at late notice to come to work at Bake & Cake and she met The One.</p><p>Injuries, sickness, muggings, and life emerge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bake & Cake

The second Percy set foot through the door of the apartment smoke immediately filled his lungs and stung his eyes. Coughing, the teen stumbled into the kitchen blinking rapidly.

"Mom?" He called out, squinting through the dark haze floating around the apartment. It was difficult to see anything and Percy tripped over the couch as he tried to maneuver around the small living  ~~room~~ closet. When he got no reply, panic surged through his veins and he found that his legs were moving faster until he'd reached the kitchen and hauled himself over the counter top (because really it was much too difficult to go around). "Mom?" He shouted once more, this time a little more desperate but could easily be blamed on the fact that he was wheezing.

"Oh!" A shout comes from his right which is followed by a loud clanking sound. "Percy! In here! I'm baking cupcakes!" 

Percy follows her voice until he finds his mom stooped over the oven, sticking a toothpick into a charred brown mess. "You're baking?" He asks incredulously, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. He walks closer until he's standing at her side. Ever since the day he'd been born Sally Jackson had never once had enough time to bake anything. Doughy goods were something Percy had always stopped to salivate over in bakery windows when he was younger. No, baking was out of the question because of all the jobs Sally barely managed to balance. There was the occasional blue pancake every now and then but other than that it was usually take-out or microwavable meals.

Mrs. Jackson stands up and smoothes her apron then smiles at him, her _mom smile_ , which always makes Percy's heart melt. He loves his mom to death, and he's not going to hide that. So, when she doesn't answer his question he just rushes forward and gives her a big bear hug.

She laughs and gives him a good squeeze before gently pushing him off. "If you really want to know why I'm baking you can take a guess from the following: 

1) I thought I'd tackle the art of baking so I can be the next champion of Cake Boss.

2) It's your step-brother Tyson's birthday tomorrow and he absolutely loves cupcakes so I thought it would be fun to torture myself to make him some."

Percy makes a show of pretending to think then says: "When you win Cake Boss, and get thousands of dollars, remember who was always there for you."

Sally rolls her eyes in response then bends down to peer at the cupcakes once more. "They look nearly done." She comments in a neutral tone.

Percy lets his gaze trace the smoke still lingering in the air then glances back at his mom. The next words he speaks are not easy, but they must be said. "Mom...I'm sorry but I don't know if you've realized but there's an awful lot of smoke in the air and we should probably clear it out before we die from, like, lack of oxygen or something." He pauses and gestures to the blackened cupcakes. "And those are probably not the best to give to Tyson. He might think they're bricks and try to build a castle with them."

There's a long silence and Percy nervously backs up a few feet, wondering if he's stepped over the line. Then Sally bursts out laughing and soon she's leaning against the side of the counter and tears are sliding down her cheeks. "Oh Percy, I knew you wouldn't lie to me." She stops for a moment to shake her head, smiling the whole time. "I tried to tell myself it wasn't awful but by the look on your face when you came in I knew I'd done something wrong."

Percy didn't know whether he should let her be or voice his agreement. He chose the former.

Sally finished her laughing attack and wiped the tears from her eyes, still chuckling. "Here's the plan, kid. You're gonna go down to Bake & Cake and grab up a baker's dozen blue cupcakes, chocolate flavored with some pictures of sticks in frosting on top."

Percy didn't have enough time to complain about going back into the city just as he got home before he was being ushered out of the apartment and the door had been slammed behind him. He frowned, then shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets as he began the long trek to Bake & Cake. It was a ways away, over a mile away because of the route he was forced to take. With the stoplights, skirting around buildings and avoiding bumping into passerby it took him nearly twenty or some minutes to get to the bakery. 

As Percy grabbed the door and pulled it open he nearly stopped in his tracks. There, at the counter stood the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. She wore a Bake & Cake apron, fastened around her waist and a Bake & Cake baseball cap atop the gorgeous blonde curls that also perched themselves on her head and framed her perfect face. 

Percy wasn't sure what he was feeling, but it was doing strange things to his body. He tripped over a chair on his way to the counter and hit his head on the table as he went down. 

Normally, he would have been in pain, but not today. He dragged himself toward the counter, propped an elbow up and gave the girl what he hoped was a charming smile. She seemed flustered, her cheeks gone red and her eyes darting anywhere except for him. Oh right... he must seem a little strange making such a scene. 

"So uh..." He cleared his throat and tried again. "I need a baker's dozen of chocolate cupcakes. Um...with uh..." Percy drifted off and bit his lip to try and recall what else his mom had asked for.

The girl tucked a few curls behind her ear and scanned him with her piercing grey eyes. "And?" She prompted with a face of stone.

Percy couldn't read her emotions, but generally he had no idea what any girls thought so he didn't try. "With...oh yeah. Frosting sticks on top," he snapped his fingers and grinned. 

The girl just nodded and typed something into the register. "That'll be $21.03 please." 

Percy, however, hadn't heard what she'd been saying because he was trying to make out the letters on her nametag. 

**NAANEHBT**

He squinted in confusion. What sort of name was NAABEHBT? 

"Excuse me? Sir?" NAABEHBT cut into his thoughts and pointed to the cash register. "You need to pay for your cupcakes."

"Yeah, of course. I uh..." Percy fumbled for his wallet and pulled out a twenty. "Is this...I only have this."

The blonde haired girl eyed the bill in his hand and sighed. "You still need a dollar and three cents." 

"Oh. Um...okay. Can you put the order in and I'll be right back?" 

"Fine."

And with that, silently cursing himself, Percy left the bakery in order to scavenge pennies from the ground outside. But he didn't really mind, the prospect of seeing the girl again kept his spirits high.

 


	2. Green Eyed He-Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth has never been like other girls. She has never been into any guy, no matter how attractive. She just didn't have the time for a relationship, though many had asked. 
> 
> That is...until a certain little he-devil walked through the doors of Bake & Cake and her heart did a flip inside her chest.

Annabeth's entire day was going simply awful until the green eyed teen guy had, quite literally, stumbled through the door. Firstly it was a Friday afternoon and she absolutely hated working after school. She preferred to spend the night in her tiny compartment shared with her room-mate and best friend since she was seven, Luke Castellan. He would go out and socialize, leaving the entire space for her to work on school projects and catch up on AP classes and make sure each paper was perfection. 

 **But no.** Her entire plans for after school were put on hold because her boss Chiron called her right as she was turning the key in the door and asked her to come in immediately.

 _'I was thinking of the employee staff, and you sounded like the only employee without much of a hard schedule. So I need you to please come man the shop, right away.'_  

He said that like she didn't have plans. Like he didn't think she had a life. Annabeth's decent day turned into pig crap before anyone could say the word: spider.

Gods, she would kill Clovis if he didn't show up again. That boy NEVER did a thing. She suspected he had only called in sick because he was napping,  _as usual_. Once, she caught him in the backroom with his face buried in a pillow- _A PILLOW HE BROUGHT_ \- snoring away behind some cakes, his eyes shut tightly and his hand nesting in one of the lemon bunt cakes. 

She was in a sour mood for a good hour as she ran the entire shop by herself. Life sucked. Every customer that came in were greeted with glares, frowns, and half burnt pastries. 

And then, just as Bake & Cake was about to close, this disheveled adorable  _guy_ with stunning sea green eyes came crashing through the door, waving money in his hand. He slowed as he closed the distance to the counter and met her eyes and for just a moment she thought she felt some...connection...with him. That is, until he fell over a chair and smacked his face against one of the tables.

She resisted the urge to snort, she wasn't sure why- she didn't even  _know him_ and yet she also felt as if she'd known him her whole life. He sheepishly approached the register and  gave her the cutest smile she'd ever seen. And immediately, Annabeth felt jealous of anyone this guy knew because if he smiled at them this way they'd never be sad again. She wanted that smile all for herself.

The exchange was strange, Annabeth felt as if she said anymore than short and choppy sentences she would make a fool of herself. So she kept it short and simple.

At one point, his eyes were locked onto her name tag and he didn't seem to be registering what she was saying. She wasn't sure what to make of that at all, but she decided to go with: disturbing.

Staring into his eyes was magical, her vision tunneled for a moment and she had to blink rapidly to clear her mind. But it was no use, the way his hands tapped against the counter and his eyes scanned the prices behind her made her want to wrap him into a hug and never let go.

Wait,  _what?_

She needed to stop thinking about him like some giggly hormone obsessed teenage girl. She was independent and had no time for a boyfriend. 

Wait,  _boyfriend?_

When had that even been an option? Why was she thinking like this? She needed to stop. 

Besides, she reasoned with herself, it would be illegal if a guy like this was still single. There was no way she had a chance.

That thought guided her through the rest of the (short) conversation, and she let no emotion seep through her words.

When he'd left to somehow find enough money to pay for his cupcakes, she got to work creating them. They would be perfect. She wasn't sure why she wanted them to be the greatest  cupcakes in all of creation but she would make sure they looked and tasted enough to make angels start falling from the sky.

When he came back, ten minutes later, he had a crumpled dollar bill and an abundance of dirty brown pennies which he slid onto the counter with a triumphant grin. Oh gods, his smile...

"Here's your stuff." Annabeth handed him his box of cupcakes and hastily drew her hands back as their fingers brushed. "Now, since you're the last customer I'm going to lock up and get going home." Annabeth glanced out the window and was dismayed to see that the light had nearly all but disappeared. She'd have to walk home alone in the dark. 

The guy stared at her, with those intense eyes, then running a hand through his dark hair shrugged to himself then asked: "Do you live close to here? I could walk you home if you want."

Annabeth looked back at him, trying her best not to blush.  _Don't let the offer go to your head,_ she advised herself.  _I'm sure he offers to walk thousands of girls home everyday._ She scanned his face, looking for any signs of judgement or rejection. Nothing, his face was one of pure innocence. 

"I live about two blocks away," Annabeth pointed in the general direction. "I think I'm capable enough of walking myself."

"I bet you are," was his response. "But I don't want to lose sight of you any longer than I have to." 

Annabeth's gut did something weird as he said that. She refused to greet it as anything but disgust. Still, the prospect of this hot guy walking her home wasn't so bad so she just nodded her consent and gathered up her belongings.

"I'm Percy by the way," her walking home partner said as he held the door for her on the way out.

"Annabeth," Annabeth replied, inserting the keys into the door and locking it tight for the night.

Percy stopped for a moment and bit his lip for a moment, and Annabeth got the feeling he was giving himself a mental slap, for what she didn't know.

They walked down the street in silence for a little longer before both Percy and Annabeth opened their mouths to talk at the same time.

"So do you-"

"Which school-"

They both broke off abruptly and glanced at their feet, embarrassed smiles trying to make up for the interruptions. 

They spoke at the same time. "You go first." 

Percy ducked his head apologetically, chuckling a little before gesturing for her to go on. 

Annabeth tucked her hands into her coat pockets and cleared her throat to speak. "Do you have any hobbies?" 

Following the question, she hated herself for asking that. It was small talk, only meant to fill the awkward gap of silence that had charged the air between them.

Percy however, seemed happy to answer. "Oh yeah, I have a ton. I swim a lot at my school. I'm pretty good I guess. I also do some skateboarding but my mom doesn't like me to since I fall a lot and get scrapes. When I was little, she would carry me inside and put this cream on my cuts that kinda stung but she would give me a blue cookie and it would be alright." Percy's voice drifted off a moment, probably lost in memory. "So yeah...I also have a hobby of hating school."

Annabeth stopped walking to gawk at him. "Are you kidding?" She frowned and would have put a hand on her hip if she hadn't been carrying so much stuff. "How could you hate school? Education is life. Everything I do is for college and after that I hope to be an architect."

"That's awesome. I wish I was good at building stuff...actually I do make a mean lego fort." Percy grinned adorably then shrugged and slowed his pace so she could catch up. "I dunna know, I'm just not very good at school anyways. I'm pretty much failing every class, and the teachers hate me because they think I don't try. It's alright though, when I grow up I think I'll just study stuff about the ocean and forget about all that stuff."

This caught the blonde's interest. "You like the ocean?"

Percy nodded. "Yup, anything to do with the ocean or water is my turf."

"What would you study? Marine biology?"

He didn't answer for a bit, as if thinking. "Surfing?" He suggested hopefully.

Annabeth couldn't help herself, she laughed. 

Then Percy was laughing too and they were almost like a normal couple walking down the street laughing together. Happy to be with one another.

It was over much to fast, they arrived at Annabeth's compartment in no time at all.

"This is my place," She said stupidly, as they'd been standing out there looking up at the building. She didn't want to go in.

Percy looked sad but he took her hand and gave it a light kiss. "Can I see you again?"

"I work Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays after school hours." 

"Not like that...somewhere else. Do you like food?"

_Does he like me?_

Annabeth couldn't help but smile at the idea. "No fair, luring a girl in with promises of food." She squinted for a moment, then added hastily: "But, if I do see you again, it'd better be fast food."

Percy's eyes lit up. "I have found my soul mate," he laughed jokingly.

Little did they both know, he was entirely correct.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Percy's point of view next. 
> 
> Fast food disasters lead to the streets where criminals roam. So what happens of one of them threatens Annabeth while Percy is around?
> 
> They'd better run as fast as their little feet can take them.


	3. Mess With the Bull, Get the Horns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth's way too distracted by Percy to realize that two guys are trying to steal her money.   
> Percy's got her back.  
> And those two?  
> It's safe to say they spent the night nursing their wounds and cursing the day they ever met Percy Jackson.

Percy's holding the door, with his knee, for Annabeth as they shuffle outside of Pizza Shack, clutching two brown boxes of steaming pepperoni pizza apiece. It's a dance, Percy weaving this way and Annabeth leaning that way so that they can both step into fresh air (or as fresh as it gets in New York) and set the boxes down at their feet to catch their breath.

How would have that that Pizza Shack would have so many people? It was almost as bad as Black Friday, screaming people running about and one elf-ish looking guy stuffing about a zillion slices into his gaping mouth all at once as an Asian guy and his girlfriend timed him with a stopwatch shouting "30 seconds Leo! C'mon buddy! YOU GO!" Percy had personally thought it looked like the best game ever but as he'd watched Annabeth's face scrunch up in disgust he'd decided not to voice his opinions out loud.

He was too nervous about scaring her away.

_Annabeth._ Her name was perfect. Better than NAABEHBT, for sure. He couldn't believe he'd gotten that wrong but that's dyslexia for you. 

She wasn't like any girl he'd ever talked to, not that Percy usually talked to any girls except his mom. He was much too busy for that. Skateboarding and surfing and whatever. Life was in the way.

But Annabeth? She made him want to weave flowers in his hair, start a ' **Save the Whales** ' campaign (something he wanted to do when he was 3 but only managed to save up $0.43 for the project before he lost interest), and find the cure to cancer. (Because cancer sucks and someone needs to show that bully up.)

They'd met only three days before, and the time that passed when Percy hadn't seen her were pure agony. Almost every second without her made him want to sob in despair, it was seriously that bad, and his every waking moment was about her.

This morning, as he'd woken up there'd been a bounce to his step and it was similar to the feeling of waking up on Christmas morning as a child. Except, maybe a million times better.

Percy hoped to any one listening that Annabeth liked him back. She wouldn't have agreed to a second date if she didn't...right? If walking her home from work after just meeting her counted as a date. In Percy's book it worked just fine. And Pizza Shack probably wasn't a place where most people with romantic interest in one another would go but hey, she liked food, he liked food, pizza is a pizza is a pizza.

So pizza it was.

"I can't believe how many people were in there," Annabeth's lips turned up into a slight smile as she tucked a few stray blonde hairs behind her ears, the ones not trapped in a ponytail. 

"It was pretty insane," Percy agreed, trying not too stare to intently into her eyes. 

"Do you think we're really going to eat all this pizza?" The blonde gestured to the boxes that lay at their feet. The ground was littered in trash and dried gum, and Percy half wondered to himself it was really a good idea to set their food on the sidewalk which was not at all sanitary. She bent down to pick hers up and Percy did they same. They started walking, the sky was growing dark and it was eerily quiet as they went down the street a good couple feet.

"I dunno know," Percy replied honestly after some time. "Once, when I was little I ate five slices in a row and I was super proud of myself. Now I eat like the entire box plus some."

Annabeth probably would have answered something witty, or a cute little remark that would have made Percy's heart soar but she never got the time.

Two masked boys ran up to the two of them, and before Percy or Annabeth had any idea of what was going on one of the two pulled out a handgun. 

"Drop the boxes and hand over your money!" The boy closest to Annabeth shouted, waving his arms violently. The other boy with the gun pointed it furiously between the both of them.

"Whoa man, no need to point a gun in the lady's face." Percy couldn't help himself. People did say that his smart remarks could get him killed someday. Too bad they didn't realize it was such an ironic phrase. "Didn't you mom teach you any manners?"

The boy with the gun turned so the gun was trained on Percy. "You shut the *beeeeep* up you little *beeeeeep*. I could shoot you dead if you don't give me your money."

"Give me your money girl," The masked boy next to Annabeth jabbed her with an elbow. "You got ten seconds or your boyfriend here is gonna get a bullet in his brain."

To Percy's credit he didn't react to that at all. "Don't talk to her like that," He growled, face turning an angry red. 

Annabeth, he thought should have been crying pathetically and gasping about how 'oh please just spare him' and handing as much cash over as she could...but she wasn't. She was standing in the same position as she'd been when the boys ran up and her grey eyes were snapping back and forth between the two as if she was calculating something. She and Percy locked eyes and they were in unspoken agreement.

"I'm getting sick of this Conner," The boy holding the gun sounded bored. "Let's just shoot 'em and go."

"Travis you  _idiot,_ " The other boy responded, eyes flickering to Percy and back at Annabeth. "I explained this to you. If we kill them there's a messy body to clean up." He looked at Annabeth and narrowed his eyes. "Not that we won't if it comes down to it."

Annabeth then did something rather unexpected. Instead of maintaining her stoic composure, tears formed in her eyes and her lip began to tremble. "Oh...I don't want to die." She gasped, and then her legs gave out and she was on the ground. The one called Conner inched closer, irritation evident on his face. "Your a stupid *beeeep*. So pathetic." He brought a heart wrenching kick swinging into her side and Annabeth let out a sharp gasp.

It took all Percy's willpower not to say or do anything...not yet.

As soon as Annabeth was sure the ass was close enough she yelled: " _NOW_!" and then her leg was sweeping out and catching the criminal's legs and bringing him crashing **hard** to the ground. At the same time, Percy lept forward and knocked the gun from Travis' hand, sending it flying off into the bushes. Just as swiftly, Percy was on the other boy and began pummeling and kicking and punching for all his worth. Poor Travis... those are the only words innocent enough to explain what happened to him. 

_**Red. Red. Red.** _

Percy wanted to kill him.

He. Insulted. Annabeth.

He was going to die.

Punch, kick, punch.

They. Kicked. Her.

There's noise roaring in his ears and his eyes are narrowed as he glares down at the boy trapped underneath him.

_**Red. Red. Red.** _

"Percy stop!" 

Annabeth?

Percy looks up confused and see's his date standing next to him, concern and...was that fear? in her eyes. 

The other boy, Conner, had gone.

Travis groaned in pain from underneath Percy and with reluctance Percy forced himself off. "Get out of here," He muttered but raised his voice for his following words: "If you  _ever_ try to hurt her ever again  _I will personally arrange a funeral service._ "

And with that, Travis was up and ~~running~~ limping away.

Percy turned back to Annabeth, who stood still and motionless. 

"Annabeth?" He asked tentatively. "Are you okay?"

Her hand ghosted her side and he noticed her slight wince but instead she just nodded.

"Do you...do you still want to go back to your apartment to eat these?"

Gods. Percy hated himself. He'd messed up. Somehow, protecting Annabeth had made her not like him as much. Or at least, that's how it seemed to him. How had he managed to screw this up? (Pretty easily, he supposed). 

"No...I uh...I need some time to myself." Her reply cut his soul in half and he tried not to look like a wounded baby seal.

"Oh that's-that's okay," Percy stammered, losing his control over his ability to form sentences. "Maybe another time...do you uh, do you have a cellphone?"

Annabeth appeared to be avoiding making eye contact and that worried Percy even more. Did she not like him?

_Does she hate me?_

But to his surprise, she nodded and he handed her his pen that he kept with him at all times and she scribbled her number on his hand. "Don't forget it," She added when she was done, then turned on her heel and left.

Percy watched her leave, confusion muddling his thoughts and he sighed dejectedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh... what does Annabeth think about Percy now?
> 
> Can they still be a happy couple now that she's seen what he's capable of?
> 
> (SPOILER: Yeah, I mean otherwise there would be no story...but shhh don't tell the plot that.)


	4. Ilnesses & Insecurities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth has a meet and greet with her inner demons.
> 
> Percy has a meet and greet with his inner bacteria.

Annabeth's never been all that good with people. It was comically sad, she could plan and design a new building in under five minutes, climb the Statue of Liberty if she wanted to and beat the crap out of creeps wandering the street at night. But having conversations with other humans?

That was uncharted territory.

She didn't want to tell Percy that, _gods_ he probably already thought there was something wrong with her after the way she'd looked at him yesterday when those thieves tried to take her money. If there was anything Annabeth refused to be it was a damsel in distress. Percy didn't need to know about her trust issues, or her self problems. She wasn't so pathetic that she'd dump her life burdens over the first guy to hold the door to a restaurant for her.

Still, he probably deserved some explanation to the horrified look she'd gifted him with on their ~~date~~ outing. She didn't want to lose Percy, as cheesy as it sounded. He was the only good thing in her life right now, everything else was routine: plain, simple and scheduled. Annabeth liked it when things went to plan and she wouldn't admit this _but_ she also liked it when things didn't go to plan... like meeting Percy Jackson.

It was almost sad, now that the blonde teen reflected on it, how she had no one else. Her father didn't care for her (he'd made that clear), her mother had died giving birth to her and anyone she might have had before to call a 'friend' had long since spent their time and drifted on without her. All good things came to an end, that was Annabeth's motto. If she didn't get to know anyone then it wouldn't have to end because they hadn't known each other in the first place.

Being with Percy, she realizes, means sooner or later he's going to pack his bags and go...and she'll be forced to pick up the pieces and add his name to the long list of people who had abandoned her.

But the way he'd attacked that masked criminal for her made her uneasy. It was almost like he really did care about her, and how he defended her made it seem as if he wanted to protect her (not that she needed it mind you). Still, Thalia had died and Grover had gone off who knows where...and boy they sure fooled her into thinking they had something special before they left. The only other one she really had was Luke and he was out far too often partying to be much of a comfort to her. Without a goodbye, a simple 'Later Annabeth I'm heading out' she never heard anything from them. They were gone just like that.

It's two days after the incident that Annabeth decides she won't go on any more ~~dates~~  outings with Percy. No, she can't take another broken heart, even if he seemed a little different than the others. All people were the same, they just cared about themselves.

It's seven at night when her cell phone blares her ringtone. She'd been heating up the pizza from a few days earlier, preparing to pull an all nighter studying for her history exam worth over half her grade and cramp her hand writing on over a billion study cards.

 _They're coming. They're coming for you, but listen, your life could depend on this._ Annabeth casts a sorrowful look at her small meal then glances at her phone screen. Unknown number.  _Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and **don't blink**. Good luck._

She didn't usually answer random calls, the only three contacts in her phone are the only ones she ever talks too. She doesn't know why she answered but it was almost as if her hand was drawn to push the answer button...like fate.

"Hello?" She hears herself say and silently cursed how shaky her voice sounds.

There's silence on the other end for a few seconds, as if the other person isn't sure what to say. "Annabeth? It's Percy."

Annabeth notes the raspiness of his own voice, hoarse and weak. "Are you okay? You don't sound so good."

A dry hacking sound comes through the line and it takes her a moment to realize it's laughter. "I'm fine, just suffering slightly..."

Annabeth's heart does a gymnastics routine. "Um... okay what are you suffering from?"

 _Cough._ "A broken heart." _Cough._

Annabeth doesn't know how to answer this so she doesn't and there's a long silence. She isn't quite sure if it's awkward or not, she finds it (disturbingly) comforting how she can hear his- ragged- breathing and know he's taken time from his day to call her.

"I am actually sick though," His voice finally breaks the silence, still sounding like a cat who got a hair ball stuck in its mouth. "I've got a fever, I checked,"

"How bad is it?"

"I wouldn't say it's *cough cough* ba-bad, I mean I checked a few minutes ago," He starts rushing his words here, trying to get through the sentence before another coughing bout interrupts him, "and it's probably gone down because I really don't feel that awful at all it's just really cold and then warm and I don't know how to...manage..." _Cough, cough, cough._

Annabeth narrows her eyes even though he can't see her and repeats in a firmer tone: "How bad is it?" She can practically see the hesitation in his eyes and imagines him biting his lip before the awful numbers are spoken.

"103."

He sounds painfully distraught at having to tell her, and Annabeth knows she shouldn't panic. 103 was _bad_ and Percy shouldn't have to deal with it alone. Gods he was _such a Seaweed Brain_ of course he didn't know what to do.

She tucks the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she starts packing a bag full of vile tasting medicines and large quantities of tissues. "Are you alone, Percy?"

There's a loud sneeze and a nasally voice answers: "Yeah. My mom had to work... and I a-a-ATCHOO!"

"Can you text me your address?"

Ten minutes later Annabeth's practically kicking his apartment door open and scanning the closet of a room for signs of Percy. In her arms she holds a bowl of steaming broth, a large bag of cough drops and anything else one needs when they are not feeling particularly well. His apartment is a mess, but Annabeth really hadn't expected anything else. She takes great care not to step on a cracked wooden skateboard (who leaves a skateboard in place of a welcome mat?) and skirts around what appears to be a pile of odorous laundry (but no one can be quite sure with Percy) and finally has to leap over the one clean thing in the apartment: a fish tank. After dodging and hurdling obstacles Annabeth does her best to search for sick and sniffly Percy but he's nowhere in sight. It takes her a long moment to realize the quivering lump on the couch covered in tissues, blankets and candy wrappers **is** Percy.

She picks her way closer until she's kneeling at the side of the couch and gently shaking the wobbly mass. "Percy?" She whispers, afraid he might have been sleeping and she'd woken him up.

There's a groan from inside the covers and then with some struggle Percy's head pops out into the open and he's blinking at her through sleep filled eyes and trying to form complete sentences. "Annabeth! I didn't- I thought- you're here-...I mean-"

Annabeth cuts him off sharply by pressing a hand to his forehead. "Maybe I should come back with some eggs," she tries for a joke. "Then we could cook them on your forehead."

To his credit Percy manages to grin and choke on a couple slurred 'hahahas.'

He's burning up and in honesty Annabeth isn't really sure what to do but she's supposed to be wise and she can figure this out or die trying. "But seriously, I think the best possible thing to do is keep resting." The blonde starts for the kitchen to fill a cup of water. "That way your body can fight off the bacteria itself."

Percy doesn't reply to that and Annabeth is concerned that he may have fallen asleep again but just when she's decided he probably had he says aloud: "I was going to ask you to come over anyways."

Annabeth pauses in her search to find a cup in the clutter Percy may have call a kitchen and casts a look of both surprise and confusion in the general direction of the couch. There aren't many words to answer that, or maybe Annabeth's social skills were lacking even worse than she had originally thought but the only response she can conjure is just a boring: "You were?"

Percy clears his throat from the other room. "Yeah, I thought we could have a movie date. I already picked out the movie, but the only problem was getting you here. So my coming down with a cold-"

"Fever," Annabeth corrected.

"My coming down with a _fever_ was both a blessing and a curse. I hear chicks dig sick guys."

Annabeth can barely suppress the laughter that threatens to spill from her lips and she resorts to shoulder shaking. "You wish," is her retort though it doesn't sound as sharp as she'd hoped.

"It got you here didn't it?" Percy's snide voice wafts into the kitchen and Annabeth fights the urge to roll her eyes. Her gaze finally lands on a clean glass (or hopefully clean) and she snatches it up, fills it with tap water (he doesn't deserve fridge water) and continues the conversation out to where Percy is laying. "I only came becausssseee," she draws out the 'because' as she places the water on the table where it should be easily accessible. "I thought you might be dying and I wanted to be the last face you saw as you choked to death, knowing I did nothing to help."

Percy grins, stupidly, since Annabeth thought it had been a pretty good insult. How badly she wanted to slap that smile off his face...didn't she? "I would want you to be the last face I saw, too." Percy confesses earnestly, nose running with snot.

He unburies an arm from his blanket fortress and flails for a bit trying to find her. Reluctantly, Annabeth lends him a hand (literally) and he takes it. Annabeth has to bite her lip because, yes his hands are uncomfortably warm but, they feel so...nice.

"My face?" Annabeth can't help but ask incredulously.

"I mean yours being so pretty and all, I think it's a natural thing to hope for." Percy's sincere tone is the only that doesn't make Annabeth snort, and the warm feeling his eyes are doing to her is just enough to make the walls barricading outsiders from her heart crumble, just like that.

It's at this moment that Annabeth notices two things:

1) There are way too many sudden silences in their relationship and they all take place because she has no clue what to say

2) She really _really_ likes Percy Jackson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this some few days ago, but there was no wifi so I couldn't post it. Oh well :)
> 
> Next chapter will be Percy's POV (as usual) and there's some getting-to-know-your-soulmate-time plus Annabeth gets to meet Sally Jackson and Gabe Ugliano.


	5. Something Different (About Her)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's something different about Annabeth and Percy loves her for it.
> 
> Annabeth meet's his mom and also has the misfortune to meet Smelly Gabe.
> 
> On the bright side, Gabe no longer lives in the Jackson apartment after Annabeth (with a little assistance from Percy) gets rid of him.

Percy knows that he's seen better days, and he knows it's silly but Annabeth is a girl he just met that  _really_ likes, and he's ~~a little~~ self-conscious at the idea that she can see him pretend sleeping on the couch, a blanket spread over his cold-again-hot-again body and snoring loudly while his hair gets mussed and fussed and green mucus glides from his nostrils.

At one point, when she'd probably thought he was too out of it to understand what she was saying, she whispered in a rather amused tone: "You drool when you sleep."

That was enough to make tiny alarm bells go off in his mind and through his barely awake state he can remember cursing his sleeping etiquette before falling back into deeper slumber. 

But it's also when Percy's sweating and shivering through the next three nights that he really gets closer with Annabeth. 

It started the day she first came over, after forcing him to down an entire bowl of broth, she did something Percy hadn't expected at all. The entire experience was fuzzy and disorienting, but somewhere through the night he remembered waking up with a throbbing headache and feeling so feverish and warm. His sleep was riddled with tosses ad turns, groans and grunts. He must have made some sort of pained noise because just as the fever peaked and Percy was sweating and shuddering and just absolutely _miserable_  Annabeth suddenly appeared at his side and wrapped him gently in her arms whispering words of comfort. 

Percy couldn't recall anything else except that Annabeth had left briefly to wet a cloth and place it on his much-to-warm-forehead and ever since that he'd felt a little better than before and his spirits soared a little higher.

The second time Percy woke, or the second time he remembered anything really, was when Annabeth's watch started beeping. He heard scuffling through the dark and forced himself to lift his head and look at her, concerned something had happened. She was sitting on the floor beside him, a book clutched in her right hand and her watch blaring in her left. Her face burned red as she managed to turn the alarm off and grey eyes met sea green ones. 

But instead of asking about the clock or being irritated Percy only asked: "What book are you reading?"

Annabeth held up the book cover so he could see and Percy had to squint to see it through the dim lighting of the room. "A-ah...architecture..?" His drift off and it sounds more like a question than anything else.

Annabeth tried to hide her smile. "It says  _Architectural Drafting and Design_ , Percy."

"Why would you want to read a book about architecture?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

Percy can't come up with an answer so he doesn't and they lapse back into a comfortable silence. After awhile he's snoring lightly and Annabeth is turning pages every couple minutes and it's peaceful.

The third thing that Percy can look back on is when he hears shouts and things thudding against the floor. It was harder than usual to open his heavy sleep-filled eyes and he forced himself to sit up and take in the situation. Annabeth stood with her back to him and her  _Architectural Drafting and Design_ book held threateningly in the air. Just a few feet away stood Smelly Gabe, Percy's part time abusive step-father part time poker player and alcoholic. 

"Stay away from him," Annabeth had said, her voice low and serious. 

"Look kid," Gabe had taken a slight lumbering step toward his own voice disturbingly calm. "This is my house, not yours. If I say he's gonna get up and go to the store, it don't matter how sick or lazy he is. He's gonna do whatever I say 'cause I'm his father." Gabe's voice rose an octave. "Now _get out_ before I make you." 

Annabeth however did not move and when Gabe surged forward to do who knows what, Annabeth smacked him with her book as hard as she possibly could then administered a kick to the place where the sun doesn't shine. There's a loud grunt and then a crashing sound. By this time Percy had managed to untangle from his sheets and launch himself at his step-father with a strangled coughing yell but there really wasn't anything left to be done. He got in a few punches but he was really much too weak and sick to be doing anything. Each blow was wildly placed and probably didn't even hit his ugly step-dad. Percy couldn't even remember if he said anything before or after trying to maul the older man or what happened after he dragged himself from the couch.

Couldn't anyone get it through their minds that if they tried to hurt or mistreat Annabeth in any way he would personally check them into a hospital room?

The next time Percy returned to the world of the living he was laying back on the couch, Gabe was gone (and now that he thinks about it there was no sign that he'd been there at all except that some of the pages in Annabeth's book were slightly bent) and his mom was sitting with Annabeth on the carpet. They were talking in hushed voices and it took Percy a moment to realize they were talking about him.

"He didn't tell you then?" His mom had been saying.

This sparked Percy's interest and he knew it was probably wrong to listen but he couldn't help himself. He shifted ever so slightly so he could listen better then lay quietly. 

"Tell me what?" Annabeth sounded confused which wasn't surprising since Percy was confused himself.

"Gabe isn't his real father. No, Poseidon left some time ago, he was in the navy you see and well...he was reported MIA and hasn't been heard from since. That drunkard we just dropped off at that hotel was actually a rather nice guy who showed his true colors after marriage and even if I'd wanted him to leave I couldn't figure out a way to say it. I always knew he wasn't nice to Percy but I thought...I'm not sure what  I thought."  His mom paused and there's no mistaking the regret in her voice before she carried on to say: "But no matter. It's done and that was yesterday, this is today and there's a new dawn on the horizon."

Percy smiled at that, his mom used to tell him that when he had a bad day at school, a less than passing grade or unpleasant people ridiculing him and his friend Grover. Now she didn't because they hardly ever saw each other anymore since she was always working.

He also expected Annabeth to snort at the slight cheesiness of the line but she didn't. She just nodded and said something Percy couldn't make out. 

His mom replied with a chuckle then added, "Call me Sally."

Yes, there is something different about this girl and Percy can't help but love her more for it.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is Annabeth. 
> 
> It's been two weeks of getting to know each other and they're both blissfully happy.
> 
> UNTIL (there's always something that goes wrong isn't there?)
> 
> Rachel Elizabeth Dare.
> 
> But fortunately for Annabeth the tags in this story are Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson and not Rachel Elizabeth Dare/Percy Jackson.


	6. Jealous Juliet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Percy is the sun.

Annabeth Chase is positively absolutely _floating_ on clouds and there was nothing anyone could say to make her feel any less overjoyed. On her way home from school, a blessed day where she didn't have to work at Bake  & Cake, she stopped at Olympus Mart and bought herself an ice cream. There was no reason in particular other than the fact that she was awesome and enjoyed it but it just  _felt_ like one of those 'buy yourself an ice cream because you had a good day Annabeth' times. However, she happens to have the heart of a Samaritan there was a teeny child crying outside the store because the plastic machine pony was out of order. Without, much, hesitation she handed him the cone (which she swears she only took one lick out of and he didn't need to know about it) and her day got infinitely better as he stopped crying and immediately took the processed cow milk with a large smile on his adorable face and uttered a 'tank you' before scampering off.

~~She heard him crying again as she left because he dropped it but that was enough do-gooding for one day.~~

So, why was she happy?

It's not like Annabeth really needed to think about it. The reason was the same as it had been these past two weeks, ever since she decided to let Percy into her life. (He actually barged in without permission, but she was willing to overlook that.)

Just yesterday they'd went and saw a movie at the theater, and it was probably an exceptional film if not for the fact that she wasn't paying attention and was way too busy trying to keep from laughing as Percy stuffed his face with popcorn and attempted to drink blue soda (don't ask) at the same time. 

Yes, that was one of the highlights of Annabeth's life, something not tarnished by the evils of this world. Not that she would tell Percy that. He'd probably get a big head about the whole manner and think he could make her snort soda out of her own nostrils (again) if he executed the same trick more than once.

So, Annabeth decides to go over to Percy's apartment and find him because she can. It's been quite some time, give or take 13 hours, since she last saw him. 

Luke, her roommate, had inquired as to why she'd been coming into their room late at night, and it was still a sore subject with Annabeth as she reflected on their conversation.

"It's just so unlike you Annie," He'd pointed out, brow furrowed.

"Don't call me Annie," Annabeth had put in, as he knew she was going to.

Luke ignored her and kept on, closing the lid to his laptop so she knew he meant business. "You used to come straight in and that was it. I know it's not really my business but I am really worried about you. I don't think you're getting much sleep and it's probably not very healthy."

"As opposed to you," Annabeth had nearly choked on her own saliva. "Luke Castellan, Ultimate Party Thrower are _definitely_ not getting enough sleep so stop making this all about me and my sleeping habits."

Annabeth of course had known it wasn't Luke's fault for being concerned. Truth was, she  _wasn't_ sleeping all that well. School work was still getting done, she was after all a perfectionist with that kind of stuff. But now that she went and saw Percy so often she would go to bed around two in the morning and wake up at six to start her day. That wasn't nearly enough sleep time, and just thinking about her misdirected anger at Luke make Annabeth's stomach clench with guilt.

Something needed to be worked out.

Usually, Annabeth had a plan. Usually. 

Love- that was a new word for her and tasted strange on her tongue- was a whole different game and something the blonde teen had never been too good at. But she was Annabeth, and if there was anything she wouldn't do it was let something beat her. So she could master this new relationship, schoolwork, and sleeping and her job. She could, and she  _would_.

When Annabeth has finally hiked the distance to Percy's apartment and knocked on the door she's dissapointed to find that Percy isn't home.

"He went out some time ago, working on a project." Sally had smiled apologetically. "But I think he said he would be at Apollo's Arts so you could try and find him there." 

And that's how she came to be standing outside Apollo's Arts staring in the window, about to wave her arms wildly and dance around to catch Percy's attention...when she notices the other  girl.

She's got wild hair, a tangled red mane if you will. Her face, from what Annabeth can tell (having her face pressed against the window was causing fog to blow from the tiny breaths she took) is dotted with little  ~~adorable~~ freckles and her eyes a vibrant green, different than Percy's but still enough to make Annabeth do a double take.

At first, she really does try to shrug it off. It's a school project, nothing more. Percy could have friends or classmates, male or female. Why should she care?

But see, jealousy is a strange thing and it pushed Annabeth into caring more than she thought she did and that's always a bad thing.

The thousands of questions running through her mind didn't help either and there was really no off-switch to them.

 _Who is that girl? What's her name? I wonder if Percy likes her? Not like...like-like right? Why is she so pretty?_ At that thought Annabeth subconsciously moved a hand to brush her blonde curls from her face.  _I wonder if she likes Percy? That's ridiculous...it's just a school project not a date. ...Isn't it?_

Still, that doesn't explain the laughter that erupts from Percy, she can tell  because his shoulders are shaking (his back is to her). There's some animated gestures from Red-Hair and then without warning Percy's leaning across the table and she's giggling and people are turning their heads to stare. And...his hands are moving forward... his hands _move to grasp hers_  and he's still suppressing laughs. But  ** _his hands are touching hers._** _  
_

Annabeth doesn't even try to understand his motives, because all she sees is some teen who played her just like all her friends, pretending he cared about her while the entire time he was just...using her. And nearly anyone else in her situation would have the right to abduct five boxes of pop tarts from their apartment kitchen and eat every last one of them, just as Annabeth did while watching documentaries of architecture and occasionally launching a prepackaged pastry at the TV screen and shouting: "Why can't everything be permanent?!"

She should have known it couldn't last forever. It suits her right, she opened the door to her heart only to have it slammed back in her face. She feels like such a fool.

......

It's a little after midnight when Annabeth decides she won't take this lying down. No, she's had way too many heartbreaks and you know what? Percy wasn't going to just walk out of this without a little fire from her. 

So she marches over to his apartment, collects as many rocks as she can and starts lobbing them as hard as she can at his window. It's a good minute until Percy's head pops out and she beans him with a smaller rock.

There's a yelp mixed with both surprise and pain then the traitorous jerk is staring down at her with a slightly confused look on his face.

"Is this supposed to be romantic?" He asks inquisitively, his voice calm and Percy-like, as if he doesn't know what he did.

"Hardly!" Annabeth shouts back, throwing another rock which she is sad to report hit no where near the window. 

"What are you doing Annabeth? It's like one o'clock or something and I'm like majorly tired." Percy starts moving a leg out the window so he's half sitting on the window sill, perched like a bird about to take flight. "Plus, throwing these rocks could break my window and then I'd be cold all night."

 "What do you think I'm doing? I'm exacting my revenge because..." Annabeth drifts off. Percy's clambering down the side of his apartment, making his way down toward her, and the anxious look on his face is enough to make her forget what she was doing there in the first place for a moment. "Because you're an imbecile." She finishes, launching another stone for good measure.

"I think, Annabeth," Percy ignores the imbecile comment as he scrambles down the building, panting between his words. "If I'm Juliet and you're Romeo you're supposed to recite some poetry. It would totally seal the deal for an over the top romantic gesture." 

"Don't you get it?" Annabeth glares, though he can't see because it's dark and there's hardly any light. "Whatever we have is  _over_ Percy, so no, I'm not reciting any poetry for you."

Percy takes a second to reply and then he's standing right next to her with huge conflicted eyes. "What do you mean we're over?"

Annabeth chooses her words carefully. "Dating, or whatever we had-"

"We were dating? Yes! I knew it!" In the middle of this sentence, Percy punctuates his words by making a fist and pumping it up into the air.

Annabeth's next comment is scathing, as she meant it to be. " _Were_ dating, Percy. I saw you with that girl at Apollo's Arts. I don't know a lot of guys who put their hands all over a girl they aren't dating." Her faces flushes at the memory, and the wave of jealousy washes anew over her once more.

Percy looks confused for a moment  before some sort of realization spreads across his face. "Rachel?" He tilts his head, eyes widening with shock.

"Whatever you're little red-headed friend's name is,  _yeah."_

"You think we're in a relationship?"

"It sure looked like it, Kelp Head."

"Oh gosh, no Annabeth...I would never do that to you. Rachel was helping me with some school stuff, I said something stupid, she laughed and whatever. And you know I'm like a full physical contact person so I was trying to get her to stop laughing at me because she was drawing attention. Like everyone was staring and I was really embarrassed, even though it was kinda funny."

Annabeth's never felt this way before. What was this feeling? Her anger is dying and being quickly replaced with something...something she might call  _mortification._

She just made a fool out of herself.

She-oh gods.

How. Could. This. Happen.

"I um...I have to...I have to go," Annabeth stammers and starts to turn so she can sprint as fast as she can away from Percy for the rest of her life.

Percy, however, reaches out so he's grabbing her arm and pulling her back towards him. (She lets him though, no way he could without her consent.)

"Annabeth, stop." He sighs and stares at her seriously. "It was just a mistake. But you really gotta know that I think you're awesome, and the best thing that's ever happened to me." He looks her in the eye and releases his grip on her arm. "Okay?"

Annabeth swallows, either her pride or her guilt it's hard to be sure. "Yeah, okay." She half-whispers.

"Good, now can I go back to bed?" He runs a hand through his hair and stifles a yawn. "I've got a super hard math test tomorrow and I can't afford to fail." Percy grins, that dorkish smile of his that she finds endearing for some odd reason. 

"Yeah."

"G'night Annabeth, _O love of my life_ ," Percy calls over his shoulder as he starts scaling the wall of his apartment again, climbing back up to the window and flashing her another signature smile.

"Good night Percy." Annabeth smiles.

But then her mind just kind of goes ' _why not?'_ and before she know's it she's shouting up to him: "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Percy is the sun."

She can still hear Percy's laughter as she jogs back to her own apartment for some much needed sleep and his next words can be heard three blocks away and are as follow: "Now,  _that_ is romantic poetry!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Order up: One Persassy Jackson with a side of romantic gestures (that actually go quite well)


	7. S is for Sweets and Studying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth know's exactly how to help Percy with his studies and with her extended knowledge of pastries and sweets there is no way Percy Jackson will fail his next math test.
> 
> Percy isn't going to object to her methods.

It's the day after the window-rock-poetry incident when Percy goes trudging into Bake & Cake with his head downcast, hands shoved into his pockets and his face a clear picture of misery. He sighs and plunks himself down in one of the much too hard chairs then frowns at the table which is slightly scratched in one corner. "You're a stupid table," He informs the piece of wood. "You'll never amount to anything 'cause you'll never go to college."

The table, wisely, does not say anything back but Annabeth does.

"I take it your math test didn't go too well?" Her voice startles Percy and if he wasn't so depressed he would have fallen over.

Alas, currently he can only slowly tilt his head so he can meet her eyes and give her a long sad look. 

Annabeth bites her lip for a moment then starts undoing the straps of her apron and pulls out the identical chair across the stupid table from Percy and takes a seat. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Percy  _does_ want to talk about it, but at the same time he  _doesn't_. He shifts his weight in the chair as he tries to think of a not-awkward answer, because he doesn't know exactly why he came to Annabeth after failing his math test. He shouldn't have bothered her. He should just go, yes that would be best for the both of them.

For some reason, instead of getting up to leave, out of his mouth tumble the words: "Yeah, I guess."

_Ugh._

Annabeth leans closer so she's even with his drooping head and says in probably the most gentle voice he's ever heard from her: "What was your score?"

Percy almost wants to flinch at that. Anytime anyone mentions grades, school, or education he has the urge to jump off a bridge and never resurface. But it's Annabeth, and if there's anyone he feels safe talking about school with, it would be her.

"54," He utters as quietly as he can. He hopes his face isn't turning as red as he thinks it is, he can feel his cheeks flushing with heat and embarrassment. He hates that feeling almost as much as Smelly Gabe.

"That's over half, which proves you know more than half of the material," Annabeth nods easily, her features giving nothing away. If she was surprised or dissapointed by his math grade, she didn't show it. 

That small detail helped, a little.

"Annabeth..." Percy hesitates, knowing that either way he says this will make him feel worse, but it must be asked. "Am I..." He pauses, takes another breath, then dives straight into the question, rushing it out with one breath. "Why is school so easy for you? I don't understand what's wrong with me because I'm trying but I never get any decent grades and I don't get it."

Annabeth's elbows find their way onto the table and suddenly she's scooting her chair closer so she can place on hand on Percy's arm.  ~~Her arm is very cold.~~

"Percy, school is not easy for me  _by far."_   The blonde shakes her head and heaves her own sigh. "I wish it was, but to get the grades I do I seriously have to work my butt off."

Percy frowns. "But you said you like school."

"Liking it and doing well in it are two different things." His girlfriend, officially decided as of last night, points out. 

Percy lets himself slide down so he's resting on the table and staring up at Annabeth. His thoughts trail away and he get's an inkling of a brilliant idea. "Annabeth?"

"Yeah?"

"What if... what if you helped me with math? Like, tutoring or something? I swear I could pay you or something..." He clears his throat and tries again. "I'm getting tired of going home to my mom after a bad school day, getting a cookie and a speech about 'keeping on' and 'persisting.' I just...I just really want to go home for once and show her a good test score and have her _really_ be proud of me for once."

Annabeth's eyes soften at that and a smile starts fighting its way to her lips. "Of course I'll help you, and you can pay me back by acing this next math test." She gets up and scoots her chair in with her knee. "When is it?"

Percy stands as well, and straightens his hoodie so he can get into 'professional' and 'school' mode. "Mr. Chiron said I can retake this math test for full points back since he knows I need it. So, that's tomorrow."

Annabeth pales at the word 'tomorrow' and nearly takes a step backward but she recovers quickly and smiles again to cover up her shock. "Oh, uh, alright. Of course, yes we... we should probably get back to your apartment so we can hit the books."

Percy stares at her. "We want to study the books Annabeth, not hit them."

Annabeth  gives him an unimpressed look and Percy cracks his own little grin (Persassy: 1 Annabeth: 0) as she walks around the store and starts explaining to (the only three) customers, sitting at their own tables, that Bake & Cake would be closing five minutes earlier than usual and she was terribly sorry for any inconveniences. 

Percy watches her go behind the counter, shuffle around the back and put something in her backpack before joining him at the door.

As the couple leave the pastry shop, Percy's eyes find the table he'd called stupid and he can't help but give it a nod, as if in apology for calling it names.

♢ ☠ ☮ ☯ ♤ Ω ♤ ♧ ♧ ♥ ♡ ♢ ♢ ♔ ♕ ♚ ♛ ⚜ ☄ ☾ ☽ ☼ ☀ ☁☠ ☮ ☯ ♤ Ω ♤ ♧ ♧ ♥ ♡ ♢ 

Percy's absolutely one hundred percent done with learning for the rest of his life. His head swims with positive and negative numbers, equations, lines, and shapes and as he buries his face in his arms he can almost see a linear equation floating before his eyes.

"One more problem Percy," Annabeth coaxes, her voice drawing him back into the land of education. "Remember what I said? Get three in a row right, and I can reward you."

Percy hesitates slightly before lifting his head. He  _is_ curious about whatever this 'reward' might be, and heck he could use something nice in his life right about now. With only minor difficulty, he picks up his pencil and lets his eyes travel to the math book and read the next question. 

_Are the lines with equations 2x + y = 2 and x - 2y = 0 parallel, perpendicular or neither?_

He drags his gaze back to the piece of lined paper that Annabeth has provided for him and starts solving it. At one point, his eyes begin falling shut and Annabeth gently pokes him to get him to concentrate once more. Percy's eyebrows knit together as he focuses and soon he presents his answer (perpendicular, for anyone who cared). 

Annabeth takes his paper and looks over his work before smiling. "That's it, Percy! I knew you could do it," And from behind her back comes a glorious blue frosted cupcake, and Percy could swear it descended from the heavens along with a chorus of angels singing 'hallelujah!'

His greedy hands are on that cupcake in less than two seconds and it's gone in seven. 

"Do you want another cupcake?" Annabeth asks sweetly.

Percy wipes his mouth before answering as quickly as he can, "Heck, yeah."

"Hmm... it looks to me as if problems 23 and 24 aren't solved." 

Percy doesn't need her to say anything else. He's already grabbed his pencil and started scribbling down the problem. He's done with both in under five minutes, which Annabeth notices is a definite improvement. 

She checks his work then hands him another cupcake. "Eat it slower this time," She advises but her words of warning fall on ears that are not listening.

♢ ☠ ☮ ☯ ♤ Ω ♤ ♧ ♧ ♥ ♡ ♢ ♢ ♔ ♕ ♚ ♛ ⚜ ☄ ☾ ☽ ☼ ☀ ☁☠ ☮ ☯ ♤ Ω ♤ ♧ ♧ ♥ ♡ ♢ 

Even after the cupcakes have long since passed (RIP) Percy's still at it, solving math equations as if his life depends on it.

"I'll get you a whole 'nother box tomorrow," Annabeth promises and true to her word she does.

The next morning as Percy takes his test in Mr. Chiron's he looks up through the window and to his own, delighted, surprise he sees Annabeth standing in the hallway holding a large box of blue cupcakes in her hands.

Needless to say, Sally Jackson was very proud of her son.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're just so cute as study buddies. 
> 
> Annabeth's got her own little opinions in the next chapter and pretty soon the plot needs to get to some actual climax so the drama can start happening and then an awesome story can take place. (That's adorable, you thought Annabeth's jealousy in the last chapter was the climax, or maybe Percy's less than stellar grades?) 
> 
> I'll let you know when I figure out what that awesome climax will be.


	8. I Don't Wanna Ever Let You Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't ever wanna let you down  
> I don't ever wanna leave this town  
> 'Cause after all  
> This city never sleeps at night

The weeks that followed with Annabeth were the best times of Percy's life.

And that was saying a lot, since he did have a few awesome and memorable moments from before like the time he found ten bucks stuck in a bush by the highway and bought himself a whole pizza. (No, he didn't share.)

But Annabeth was somehow tugging him in a new direction. Percy didn't know how to explain it. It was a good feeling, but not the same as finding abandoned/lost money. It was...something unfamiliar and strange and all he was really sure of was that he liked it. Percy knew they were dating now, but it still majorly confused him to this day. Why would such an insanely talented and seriously beautiful girl like her even look at a guy like him twice?

That's why he was so scared of losing her.

Maybe she'd decide she was done just like his dad, though that wasn't actually Poseidon's fault, and abandon him if better options surfaced.

 _No,_ Percy mentally scolded himself.  _Annabeth would never do that. She likes me for who I am._

Still, as Percy dragged himself from the comforting warmth of the shower he couldn't help but feel a little insecure. Annabeth was obviously destined to go somewhere in life. She had it all, the smarts, the talent, the looks.

Him? That was an entirely different story, and yeah Percy knew there was no point in pretending. Everyone told him he could go far, even Annabeth kept telling him 'how smart he is and how he needs to unlock his inner potential' and stuff like that. Percy really did appreciate their support, but sometimes it just felt...well like it made things worse.

Because to Percy, the only thing he was good at in life was swimming and and eating. If digesting food counted as his inner potential he was all set but if it wasn't Percy figured he was screwed.

With these troubling thoughts in mind, he snagged his favorite towel from the ground, it had a hood to go over his head in the shape of a dolphin, and slung it around himself so he could go sniff clothing articles on his bedroom floor. If they didn't smell like sweat and dirt and other teenage guy odors it was clean. None of them were even halfway decent, so he picked the green one (which Annabeth insisted brought out his eyes, whatever that meant) and prayed that Annabeth wouldn't notice how awful he smelled when he went to visit her later.

A hot pocket abduction and 9 minutes later Percy's finally hugging his mother goodbye and stepping out of the apartment to take on the day.  _You can do this,_ he tells himself.  _It's just school. This day's been good so far, so it's a positive sign. There's no way you're gonna get in trouble today._

Because, sadly, Percy Jackson has never gone a full week of school without getting reprehended by a teacher, the principal, some type of authority of a random passerby. He's lucky to go a couple days without sitting in the principle's office without his daily dose of detention. 

Serving time in jail can't be all that much worse than school, is Percy's first thought as he enters Literature and Composition and finds a seat behind his friend Jason. He's almost late, barely made it, and Mrs. Dodds is already at the front lecturing about who knows what (and who really cares?) Grover, his best friend, comes barging in babbling about wedding dresses and nature but Mrs. Dodd's shushes him and points him to the Seat of Shame, located smack dab in front where she can keep a watchful eye on him. Usually that seat is reserved for Percy.

"Did you do the homework last night?" Jason whispers out of the corner of his mouth, keeping his eyes trained on the front but clearly talking to Percy as their teacher turns to the SmartBoard.

It's at that moment that Percy realizes for the first time how stupid he'd been. So much for going through the entire day like a star pupil.

Percy fixes his eyes on the back of Jason's head, concentrating on the little blonde hairs combed smoothly. It makes him feel strangely self-conscious about his hair, which he let dry naturally after trudging out of the bathroom. "We had homework?" He whispers back, struggling to recall Mrs. Dodds telling them about any assignments for the weekend.

The dark haired teen can practically hear his blonde friend rolling his eyes. 

"Perce, we almost always have homework. It was the one where you had to read and annotate Theseus and the Minotaur then complete the comprehensions questions." 

"Well, I had a really busy weekend," Percy winced at his own excuse, "and the Broncos were playing Sunday so that day was practically reserved leaving only Saturday which I-"

Unsurprisingly, Mrs. Dodd's firm and scary as heck voice came cutting into his words, mid-sentence. "Mr. Jackson, I assume you're talking about Chapter 19's Assessment which is due today."

Percy forced himself to meet her pity-less eyes. He had to fight down the feeling that she was looking into his very soul, piercing it with one gaze. "Um... actually I was." Which wasn't a lie at all, but Mrs. Dodd's seemed to think so.

"Then you won't mind handing in your homework."

Percy swallowed, and looked around the class, sending out a pleading  _SOS!_

Turns out, Percy found himself bitterly thinking as he sat in the principles office, everyone in his Literature class are selfish jerks. Half the time Percy wasn't even 100% sure why he was in the principles office, he just knew he had the right to remain silent unless asked direct questions.

The entire school staff thought he was stupid, Percy was sure of that. They thought he made trouble on purpose, a kid who sooner or later would be a high-school dropout and within a couple years he'd be driving one of those huge trucks down the highway sipping coke from McDonalds with grease dripping down his chin. 

They didn't bother hiding what they thought either, he could see it in the way their eyes scrunched up slightly and the turned up their noses in disgust upon seeing him.

Yeah, there was no place Percy felt more worthless than when he was at school. 

One of the only reasons he even tried to educate himself and go day after day to this stupid building was for his mom. He didn't want to let her down. He couldn't be a disappointment, not after all she did for him. This was sort of his way of returning the favor, making it up to her. And now that Annabeth was in the equation...well if it happened to be something later down the road, not that he expected it to, he needed to be able to know basic things so he could provide for them. 

He loved his mom, but their life decisions weren't the best.

He wanted his family, when he grew up, to be awesome.

Not broken like his.

When he got home late that night after spending some quality time with Annabeth, he tried to sleep but the noise of the city kept him wide awake the entire time and when he did eventually fall asleep his dreams were filled with nightmares and visions of failure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry there hasn't been an update in awhile. Track season started and we've had 4 meets in the span of less than 2 weeks. I swear, these coaches want to kill us. So... in return you get this short and crappy chapter.


	9. Mornings and Museums

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy wakes Annabeth at 5 in the morning to go for a joy ride in his mom's boyfriend's car. Teenage stupidity and break ins ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was heavily influenced by incredibly sappy songs like Stand By You, I Don't Wanna, and Gone Gone Gone. I have no regrets. Also, I don't know if anyone noticed but it's been awhile since I last updated. This is because I'm lazy. That is all.

There are some days when you first wake up that you just know it's gonna be a good day.

And then again, there's some days when you first wake up that you feel like stabbing someone.

The latter was Annabeth at 5:28 in the morning when her phone rudely awoke her from a peaceful slumber.

She didn't bother with checking the caller ID- there was only one person crazy enough to call her at this ungodly hour.

With growing annoyance the blonde sat up slightly and groggily groped around her nightstand for her phone. After a few swings and misses she managed to pick it up, swipe the screen and bring it to her ear. "What do you want?" She didn't bother to keep the impatience out of her voice.

There was silence on the other end and Annabeth's mood went from irritated to murderous in a heartbeat. If Percy Jackson had butt dialed her at 5:30 in the morning on a weekend, she was definitely going to kill him. "Percy?" Annabeth tried once more, trying to sound both sweet but at the same time also trying to relay the fact that he was so dead.

There was a lot of fumbling noises then a curse before she finally got a reply. "Hey Annabeth," he sounded slightly nervous, which was a little out of character for Percy. "Doing anything fun right now?"

Annabeth squinted at her clock to make sure it was actually 5:30 because if there was anyone else in the world that craved sleep more than she did it was Percy. (Of course _she_ knew the proper amount of hours of sleep and when to get up. Percy's hours on the weekend went something between 12:30pm-2:00am). "Excuse me?"

Percy sighed on his end and Annabeth could practically see him biting his lip. "I was just wondering if you wanna go out with me."

"I don't know if you haven't noticed or something, but we're already going out." Annabeth collapsed back into her pillows, put Percy on speaker and set her phone back on the nightstand. "We've been going out for quite some time now, actually."

There was another sigh from her boyfriend- though this one sounded a lot more exasperated. "I mean, do you wanna go for a spin in my mom's boyfriends new car? His name is Paul and he's pretty chill. He didn't really specifically say I could take the car but he did say 'someday you could take it for a ride' and today is 'some day' of the year technically."

Annabeth was at a loss for words for a moment, while her brain worked double time to process the question. "You want me to come with you, at 5 in the morning, to ride in a car you stole from your mom's boyfriend?"

You didn't need to see Percy to know he was grinning. "Exactly, Wise Girl. You were the one that told me I need to start getting up earlier."

Annabeth looked down at the warm blankets surrounding her then at the blinds covering her window. Irony was a bitch. "What time will you be here?" She asked begrudgingly.

Not four seconds later there was a rapping sound on the glass of her window. Startled, she pushed away her covers and pulled up the blinds to reveal a sheepish brown haired idiot with a severe case of bedhead (though Annabeth was sure she looked no better at the moment.) Percy even had the gall to give her a miniature wave.

Annabeth took a few seconds to stare at him, keeping her expression carefully neutral, before unlocking her window to let him in. A breeze flew into the room but Annabeth hardly noticed. She was too busy plotting her boyfriends funeral and concocting the sob story she would feed the police.

"I may have been waiting out there on your roof for a few minutes, but, hey it's chill." Here he had the audacity to chuckle like there was some sort of inside joke between them. Chuckling like it wasn't 5 in the morning. He ran a hand through his tangled hair and opened his palm to show her a set of glinting keys. "It wasn't too hard to smuggle these off Paul and if we're careful about it I can return them before he even notices they were missing."

In an almost ethereal moment, Annabeth realizes that Percy is actually serious about this 'driving around town at the crack of dawn like a couple of teenage upstarts' . Wondering what she'd done to deserve this, she tugs on a hoodie and gives her boyfriend another scathing look before leading the way out her bedroom window. There's really no point in going back to bed anyways; she won't be able to sleep again. Percy, to his credit or (more likely) due to his complete ignorance, doesn't call Annabeth on her less than stellar mood and instead chooses to follow her down the tree from the roof to Paul's brand new Toyota Corolla parked in the driveway.

Annabeth doesn't voice her thoughts,  but in her head she grudgingly admits that the car is pretty nice. Though it isn't terribly expensive it does have a sleek exterior and in a neighborhood like Percy's might as well be a Lamborghini. Not many people in New York actually owned cars- and the ones that did were often mugged. 

Percy opens the passenger seat for her and her grumpy demeanor cracks, just a little. It's hard to stay upset at someone who is completely unaware that anything is wrong in the first place, and won't stop acting like a little ray of sunshine. Her misgivings about speeding around with someone who isn't particularly known to have contingency plans when encountering police don't fade at all. If anything, they enhance the second Percy turns the key in the ignition and instead of backing up he nearly hits the front of Annabeth's house.

"Haha whoops," he chuckles again- and there it is again. That _chuckle._  "I'm not really used to driving," Percy shrugs good naturedly before launching them straight into the road.

It's safe to say that Annabeth's knuckles didn't unclench for a second that she and Percy drove through the city. Much like many things Percy did, he drove recklessly. You would think with a person he cared about in the passenger seat he'd quit chasing thrills and drive at a less life threatening pace. It almost seemed like he was going fast just to piss her off. If that was the case, it was one hundred percent working. 

The first time he spoke to her was when they finally made it out of the obstacle ridden city and drew near to the open countryside by the beaches. "Isn't this incredible?"

Annabeth had just enough civility left to give him the finger. 

"But don't you just love the adrenaline rush?" He called to Annabeth, who was turning whiter in the face with each passing moment, laughing as he cranked up the radio. Yup, he was definitely mocking her.

Annabeth wanted to say something particularly nasty back but at the moment she was holding down the urge to barf.

With another hearty chuckle - seriously - her insane boyfriend jerked the car into a full 360 in the middle of the road. Annabeth almost wished that a car had crashed into them from behind, just so she could be put out of her misery.

The second the car shuddered to a stop, Annabeth threw open the passenger door and stumbled out muttering curses and promises to herself. It took her a few seconds to realize where Percy had driven them.

Of course it was the beach. What had she expected?

"Feel like some breakfast?" He beamed at her from where he stood by the car trunk. Clutched in his hands was a creaky old basket filled to the brim with delectable poptart pastries. 

Annabeth tried to find it in herself to be upset but staying mad at Percy was more difficult than the time she'd had to fight a snake over a slice of pizza. (Long story.) Part of her felt like screaming but the other part of her was famished. Besides, those strawberry poptarts weren't going to eat themselves. 

They found a secluded spot by a cluster of boulders and promptly sat their tushies down. Annabeth really wished Percy had had the forethought to bring a tarp or blanket to put down because the sitting on the wet sand experience was very unpleasant. They sat in silence for awhile, just nibbling at poptarts and occasionally sneaking a few quick glances at another. It was almost like a game, how she would look at him out of the corner of her eye and then he would slowly look back at her- and vice versa.

It was only when both of them reached for the last poptart that the silence was broken. 

"Oh, uh-"

"No, it's okay you-"

"I couldn't possibly-"

"I insist."

Annabeth gave Percy a raised eyebrow before taking the last poptart and breaking it in half. He accepted it with thanks and unceremoniously shoved the entire thing into his mouth. 

"So," he spoke up, talking while chewing, "I''ve just had a brilliant idea."

"Oh no," Annabeth responded dryly.

"What do you say we go to the Science and Engineering Museum and look at the architecture?"

Percy's offer was so out of the ordinary that Annabeth actually had to blink three times to register his words. Percy? Architecture? She must have misheard.

"You mean...go right now?" She couldn't explain why her voice had gone so soft- except for the fact that she'd always wanted to go but the admission fee was too pricey and she'd never really had enough time.

"There's no one there at this hour," Percy gave her his trademark smirk. "Free admission."

Annabeth didn't have to think twice.

And that's how Annabeth Chase found herself climbing over the fence to the museum in her pajamas, with her boyfriend close behind, at 6 in the morning.

"The museum doesn't open for 4 more hours, so by my calculations we've got at least 2 before the staff show up." Percy hefted his backpack over his shoulder and presented two flashlights to her. "If we're lucky, in that time we'll be able to see at least 4 sections- 5 if we don't linger too much."

"Oh my gods," Annabeth's eyes narrowed. "You didn't randomly have this idea. You've been planning this."

Percy reached into his jean pockets and pulled out a key card, which he swiped easily through the doors scanner. "I have no idea what you mean," he replied as he pulled a map of the museum from his other pocket.

Annabeth was going to berate him for stealing a guards key card- it was so obvious that he had since the name on it read "Bob Titan"- but the moment was lost the second they stepped inside the building. It was all so large and captivating that Annabeth forgot how to breathe for a second.

"You like?" Percy slammed the door with flourish and took a step into the room, spinning in a slow exaggerated circle.

"You hate museums," was all Annabeth could say. The words stuck in her throat.

Percy shrugged and grabbed her hand, pulling her into the exhibits with the same eagerness a three year old in an all you can eat candy buffet would obtain. "I've been thinking about the future, and I've been thinking about what makes me happy." He paused to smile at her warmly, a genuine smile. "Seeing you happy, makes me happy."

Annabeth looked at him, this silly pure fun boy that had stolen a guards key card for her. After a second, she tightened her hand on his and pulled him closer, pulling him in for the best Teenage Museum Break In Kiss of All Time.

"Ready to look at some museum exhibits?" Annabeth smiled, breaking away from Percy to drag him over to a counter full of brochures.

"Oh, you bet. I was born-"

Percy's reply was cut off by a blaring siren from outside. Blinding lights suddenly lit up from outside the building and a voice cut through the morning air- seemingly coming from a megaphone. "Come out with your hands up! We've got the place surrounded!"

The two teenagers shared a quick look before slowly backing up further into the museum.

"If I get caught, mom's gonna beat me into next week." Percy whispered between clenched teeth.

"You?! If I get caught I might not be considered for any of my scholarships anymore," Annabeth hissed back.

The worried look on Percy's face suddenly melted away, replaced by something that looked suspiciously mischievous. "Guess we better not get caught then, huh?"

Annabeth stared incredulously as her boyfriend turned and sprinted down the hallway, before muttering under her breath and following not far after.

Sometimes she really wanted to punch him in the gut.


End file.
